Two small orphaned brothers who were evicted, usurped

Two small brothers were evicted from their home by their uncle after their parents died two years ago and usurped all their property in northern Kunduz province.
The children aged 10 and eight years say they were transferred to Kabul after six months of hard labor with a shepherd.
Akbar, 10 and Saleem, 8 (not real names), are the two brothers who had a difficult life after their parents died two years ago and they are still facing different problems with an unknown future.
Akbar: My father died of illness, but my mother was poisoned
Akbar, a resident of Gurtapa district of northern Kunduz province, in an interview with Pajhwok Afghan News said: “We had a lot of land when our father was alive, he would cultivate many crops and we had a good life.”
He said his father died of a protracted illness and his mother was poisoned six months after the father’s death. “Then our uncle took us to his home because we were alone.”
While holding his younger brother’s hand and looking all around, Akbar said his uncle also showed them no mercy.
“We had a hard life at our uncle, Ghulam (not real name) house. He would beat us using a metallic wire. He sometimes used to burn our hands with a scorching poker. HE denied us food and we had to spend days in hunger. Later he expelled us and took all our belongings,” he said.
In response to a question about her mother’s poisoning, Akbar said: “I don’t know who poisoned my mother. When we woke up that morning my mother’s belly was swollen and she died soon.”
He said they had no place to live in after they were driven out from their home by their uncle and they were crying when met a shepherd near their village.
“The shepherd told us he can keep us and we can go with him to his home, we became happy and we went with him to his home, we would do all his household chores and would graze his animals for six months, but still he was not satisfied, he would tell us we are eating from their food,” Akbar added.
About his journey from Kunduz to Kabul, he said: ‘One day the shepherd told us he is selling his sheep in Kabul and we are going with him, when arrived in Kabul, he bought us toy cars and then left us in front of a shop. He told us he will come back after selling the sheep, but he never returned.”
Now the two children are living with another person after meeting him in Kabul.
Former policeman: I decided to hand these two children over to a government institution
Shamsuddin Salangi, a former policeman, said he found the two children near a police check post in Qowa-i-Markaz area.
“When I took them to my house they were in bad condition and their bodies produced bad smell due to the dirt on their skins and their psychological condition was also not good,” he said.
Salangi added: “Saleem is with me and Akbar is with his aunt who has no child of her own. We are striving hard to bring them up, we don’t ask them to work but Saleem is not happy after my sister slapped him while helping him in his studies and he brought police.”
But Saleem did not respond to questions why he sought the help of police? Was he a victim of violence?
He just responded by saying that Fatema, the sister of Shamsuddin, thrashed him for not learning his lesson.
Salangi said after the slapping incident, police asked him not to keep the two brothers and now he was undecided as to what to do with them.
High Anti-Human Trafficking and Migrant Smuggling Commission: Akbar and Saleem are victims of human trafficking
Mohammad Hassan Saleemi, a member of the High Anti-Human Trafficking and Migrant Smuggling Commission (HAHTMSC), told Pajhwok Afghan News he was unaware of the incident but he would investigate it.
“The rights of these children violated, they faced with violence and then the shepherd got benefit from them, they are forced to hard labor and then lured to Kabul,” he said.
He said several incidents of the nature existed in the country and they should be investigated.
Pajhwok tried to talk to Ghulam, the uncle of Abkar and Saleem, but he lives in an area which is under the Taliban control and it is not possible to contact him.
Gul Tapa district chief Mohammad Nabi Kakar said most of the areas in his district were under the Taliban control and any cases happen in the area referred to the Taliban instead of the government.
Taliban: Saleem-Akbar case will be investigated
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said if Ghulam was found guilty of usurping the property of the two brothers, he should be held accountable.
He said that Taliban would decisively follow the issue and would take Ghulam to justice.
What the law says about such situation?
According to the first Article of the law on combating human and migrant trafficking, dominating a child for misuse is a type of human trafficking.
The third article of the law says recruitment (brining under control) of someone, transferring, threatening or using force against someone for benefit, kidnapping and deceiving are types of human trafficking.
The 10th article of the law says if the victim of human trafficking is woman or a child, the perpetrator of the crime is sentenced to eight years in jail.
According to the 13th article of Afghanistan labor law, children under 18 years of age are prohibited from doing hard labor which may be harmful for a child’s health or physical growth.
The article 49 of the Constitution says forcing children into hard labor is prohibited.
Economic problems, insecurity, unawareness from law, lack of support from the government and relevant organs, poverty and migration are said to be the main reasons of such cases.